PARADOXICAL

Life is so ephemeral like a bubble, here today, gone tomorrow. A plump, bouncy baby boy suddenly throws up, turns pale and catches a fever. A much-publicized marriage touted to be made in heaven is now on the rocks. A political strongman is diagnosed with a crippling disease which leaves him feeling totally out of control. A rising movie star is exposed as a former prostitute and her star wanes even before she realizes it. A boss who habitually lords it over you loses his job. A blooming artist with a thousand crazy ideas meets sudden death. A woman with a delicate aura of comeliness morphs overnight into a whore. A boxer who had claimed “I am the greatest!”, an actor who had popularized Superman, a band member who had claimed, “We are more famous that Jesus Christ,” we know where they are now.

Oh, we are so foolish because we know the truth yet continue to deny it. Or we acknowledge the truth but head for the wrong directions anyway. Either we say let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die. Or we delude ourselves that earthly attachments are eternal. We go through the motions of living but we refuse to live life by the day. We plan all sorts of things but never consider those that could come unexpected. We regard life as if it were our own. We regard ourselves as if we’re totally in control.

It would be good to see how one saint prayed to God along these lines (Prayer of St. Augustine on Our Miseries and Weaknesses): "Suffer me, O Lord to speak with You, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. My life is vanishing as a shadow and before long no one will remember me. Today joy fills my heart. Tomorrow I may be overwhelmed with sadness. For no length of time am I in the same condition. Often I am convulsed with laughter and presently, sorrow intervenes and my eyes are filled with tears. How often death makes its appearance when least expected. When, how, and where will death find me? I know not, but that it will find me one day, I know to be a certainty. Look down, then O Lord, upon Your creature encompassed by so many miseries. You alone are He who can give me the strength that I need and the light that will show me all things as they are in Your sight. Amen."

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posted by Resty Odon  # 9:00 PM